Star Wars A New Force
by Kitsumeo
Summary: [This story takes place long after the current cannon time line.] In this story you follow new characters on their journey through the Galaxy, where they face new and old challenges alike. Together or alone, they face against powerful enemies, allies and even a new war, so devastating that it could change the Galaxy forever as they know it. (First time I'm writing a fanfic)
1. prologue

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…  
Millennia long wars have been going on, The hundred-year darkness, The clone wars, The galactic civil war, The first order, all examples of times where sides collided with each other. Each time shifting back and forward in fights with no end. Many lives have been lost during these wars, in the name of freedom, power or simply revenge.

After millennia of wars between the two sides, fighting over worlds, star systems stars and a better position in their galaxy, everyone had turned blind for what was to come. When the realization came that they were not alone, it was already too late, a far greater threat had come forth from an unknown galaxy far away. This new side has already shown they have no plans for negotiation, for they had attacked with force and precision. This opened the eyes of the Order and the rebellion, making them realize that this new threat was a force to be reckoned with.

Both rebellion and the Order have been taken by surprise and are now forced to work together against this new enemy, one whose powers haven't been weakened by millennia long wars. In order to survive they have to stand together or the future will turn into something neither side will be a part of. Only if both sides can let go of the past they can exist in the future, but millennia long they have been at war with each other. So this might prove to be the most difficult challenge they have ever faced, one which almost seems impossible to achieve.


	2. Chapter 1 The Scrounger

**Chapter 1 The Scrounger**

A ship shot out of hyperspace near Rakata Prime, a world whose species had been extinct for a long time. The ship, a modified VCX – 820 escort freighter is now heading to the deserted planet as it's right engine is on fire.

" Do you think we will make it to that planet?" Arana Vakrii asked while switching and pressing all sorts of buttons to keep them flying.

"Well we survived those Starfighters didn't we?" Garm Gunstar said optimistic while trying his best to keep their ship under control. In the background their droid beeped angrily over the sound of the ship's alarm in disagreement.

"Looks like scruffy disagrees with you and he isn't the only one." Arana said looking at Garm with a raised eyebrow for a moment before a couple of flashy lights drew her attention. As they drew closer to Rakata Prime, the ship started to shake as they started to picked up speed, due to the planet's gravity pulling them in.

"Seriously what were you thinking!" Zun Annix said frustrated as he stumbled into the bridge.

"Those Starfighters could've blown us to pieces." He said before he noticed the fast growing planet which they were heading for. "Holy star destroyer! You are planning to land us on that planet with one working engine." Zun said shocked.

"You better warn your brother and help the others to brace for impact." Arana replied still flipping switches and adjusting all kinds of ship functions. Zun sprinted back to warn his brother and the others for a possible impact, because when Arana told you to brace for impact it meant serious business.

"Alright we are entering the atmosphere, are you still with me Vakrii?" Garm teased with a smile since he knew damn well that she had nowhere else to go.

"Ha ha, very funny." Arana said a bit annoyed by the fact that Garm was being so down to earth about the situation they were in. They had been in situations far worse but landing on a strange planet with only one engine sure wasn't something to stay calm about, many things could go wrong. What if the natives aren't very fond of strangers or maybe the Order or the New Alliance had any troops on the surface waiting for them, no this situation was far from ideal. Arana slapped her cheeks to stay focused, as they got through the planet's atmosphere, Arana noticed how cloudy this planet was. This was very good since it would conceal them from the sky, if anyone was looking for them, they would be hidden by these thick clouds, but only If they managed to land in one piece that was. Arana wondered what was below all these clouds but the moment they broke through they almost flew into a massive tree.

"Whoa! Hang on tight." Garm shouted, dead serious this time, since one wrong move meant the end of them. Arana tightened her seatbelt and looked at the vegetation flying past them, they were still going too fast she noticed.

"A little help?" Garm gritted between his teeth as he tried to keep the ship under control with all his might. Quickly Arana took the other steering wheel, one which they only used in exceptional circumstances. Together they pulled hard to keep the ship stabilized, but even when they both tried to control the ship, it still decapitated branches and the top of some smaller trees. The ship hardly slowed down and after one of the wings hit one of the bigger trees they started to lose control and eventually spin around. Arana knew there was no way they could regain control so she cut the power of their engine making the ship decent even faster.

"Why did you?" Garm started but he knew what she was up to, as they sliced and crashed through more and more of the vegetation Arana and Garm waited for the right moment, they had to use the ship's engine to thrust on full power right before they would slam into the ground, only than would they have a chance to avoid ending in a pile rubble. Arana and Garm both had their hand on the ship's engines thruster and as the ship rotated they waited for the right timing. "Now!" They both shouted and with a loud rumbling from the ship's engine they slowed down almost entirely and right before they crashed into the ground they steered down, so their engine wouldn't crash into the ground first. This was the only way to save the engine from breaking, the front of the ship was like a hammer so it could take a hit. The ship crashed into the ground and slid through the ground for several meters before it stopped completely. Arana looked at Garm who looked back and laughed in disbelief that they managed to pull it off. Shortly after the ship had landed Zun came to them again.

"Seriously I'm not getting paid enough for this." Zun said complaining before he noticed that the two of them were laughing at each other. "You two are enjoying this, unbelievable! Once we get off this planet I want a big bonus and a vacation." Zun complained shaking his head and walking away from the them.

"Is everyone still alive?" Arana asked as he walked away but Zun didn't reply, so she figured everyone was alright. Arana relaxed in her chair, still with a big grin on her face, the truth was she enjoyed these kind of moments, living on the edge and being able to tell the story made her feel somewhat alive. As Arana and Garm released their belts, Scruffy came towards them, beeping very angrily, Scruffy was their droid, a modified Sith Probe Droid to be precise. Who had been found by Arana when she had raided some old temple with Garm when they had just met. Arana joined Garm's crew in order to support her family, her species, the Togruta, had suffered from the wars. She had begged Garm to give her work so she could help her family, at the time she was only ten when she went with Garm. At first she did it to raise money for her family, but now a decade later, she was a full member of his crew and thought of them as her second family. Garm on the other hand was a Human, forty years old, who had worked his way up from the streets until he was hired to fly a ship. Once Garm was in control he stole the ship and sold it and its cargo on the black market and bought the VCX – 820 escort freighter, which they fly now. After years of modification and recruiting the right people for his ship, he managed to get himself a name, the grave robber, which he didn't mind one bit. They made a living from robbing graves and raiding old temples, so after some time he had named his ship the Scrounger since they never returned anything they found and only took what they needed. Zun and Jaran Annix, were brothers and also human. They manned the Scroungers turret board guns. They both got scouted by Garm when he found them in a pub looking for work. The brothers had come straight out of the rebellion army, which they left because of an increase in pointless fighting. Garm had promised them that the only fighting they would have to do was to protect the ship and crew on the job and so they joined. The scrounger had two mechanics, a Rodian called Teisheynmuu Chuoq, whom they all called Chuko and an Utai who lost his memory and couldn't remember his name, so they simply called him Tai. They were both selected for their unique mechanical skills and insight, which at times clashed when they were both set on the same task. The final two members of the ship were quite special since they were animals The first was a Loth-Cat named Rim, who was found on one of their expeditions to the Outer Rim, where they stumbled upon a group of poachers. They had freed Rim from the poachers and he had felt a great gratitude and stayed on the ship ever since. The last but most recent member was a bit unexpected, during one of their travels they were supposed to deliver a cargo of Varactyl eggs from Utapau to one of the core planets, however before they arrived one of the eggs had hatched. When they presented the eggs and the hatchling the buyer had rejected the hatchling, it had been born too soon and he didn't have time to take care of the little reptilian. On top of that the hatchling was an albino and those were deemed to be weak and would probably die too soon. Arana had asked Garm to keep her, until they found a place for her, which he agreed on but told Arana not to get attached to it too much, since they would find a place for her as soon as possible. This didn't quite go as Garm thought it would and the little hatchling, grew closer with Arana and the crew the longer it took to find any buyers and over time Garm had given up and so the hatchling, named Moon became part of their crew. As Arana and Garm walked out of the flight deck into the main hold, Moon jumped from a book shelf onto Arana's back, which he climbed to sit on her shoulder.

"Hey there little girl, who let you out of your cage?" Arana asked smiling. "Are you alright?" she add a little concerned. Moon however was eager to see her and crawled around her neck into her jacket where she always rested. Arana smiled and took a seat, waiting for the others to arrive. When they were all there, Garm started to discuss about their situation.

"Alright we have two problems, one is our engine, which needs to be fixed before we can fly again and second, who knows on what planet we have just landed?" Zun stood up and walked to their holotable.

"My brother said that based on our last input on the hyper drive and the possible planets in the area, it is almost certain we crashed on Rakata Prime." Zun explained showing their course and the location of the planet. Garm scratched his black beard for a moment before he replied.

"Alright that leaves us with our first problem." Garm said looking at Chuko and Tai.

"We will do our best to get the ship flying again." Tai said standing up ready to go to work, but Garm stopped him since he needed more information.

"Hold on a minute, how long do you think it will take before we can fly again?" Garm asked.

"Probably a few hours, I had a look at the system and some parts have been dislocated which need to be replaced." Chuko answered before Tai.

"You two." Garm pointed at his mechanics. "Get us airborne again and no messing around we have no clue if this planet is safe." Garm pointed out just in time before the two mechanics could start to argue with each other.

"As for you two" Garm said looking at the two brother. "Go take some equipment from the armory we are going out to have a look." Garm ordered the brothers. Zun and Jaran nodded and left for the little armory room to get geared up. Now only Arana was left and Garm turned his attention to her.

"Arana I want you to get your gear as well and make sure Rim and Moon stay on board, the last thing we want is to run after them, we have got enough trouble as it is already." Garm said while walking towards the crew Quarters to change his pilot gear. Arana walked towards her room and put Moon on her bed, who was fast asleep. After ten minutes she finally found Rim and put him in the main hold and locked the doors so he couldn't get out. By the time she got her own gear the others were already waiting for them in the boarding room.

"Alright listen up, while Chuko and Tai will be repairing the ship's engine, Zun will stay to guard them in case someone or something decides to attack. Jaran, Arana and I will explore this planet for a short while, who knows what information we might find." Garm explained before Scruffy beeped angrily at him. "Yes, you ball of scraps, you can come as well." He sighed before moving on.

"We will be gone for a few hours, so try to have it all fixed by the time we return." He said while opening the door.

"Alright let's get this going." Garm said while stepping outside. Arana and the others followed him outside, they had checked the oxygen levels and it was safe to breath without any protection. Arana was amazed at the vegetation, she had never seen so much green in her whole life. Rakata Prime sure looked like a whole different world, as if civilization never touched it. She waved the others goodbye and followed Garm and Jaran, both equipped with protective gear and multiple blasters. Arana herself had a simple hand blaster and an old electrostaff, which only worked on one side, she used it mainly to keep wild animals at bay. However she had one weapon in particular that was the most powerful of all. During one of their scavenges she had found a lightsaber, Garm had told her many times she would get into trouble if anyone saw it and that she should get rid of it. But Arana knew that she had found something special and said that she wouldn't part from it and that she would keep it well hidden. She hadn't used the lightsaber for any fighting, but she did activate it at times in her room to study the tool of which both good and bad was done with, making her wonder if her weapon had actually killed someone. It was a green of color, which she knew was used by Jedi mostly. She had always admired the Jedi who stood for good and used their weapons to protect the innocence, rather than for power. Arana wished that if she ever had to use her saber it was for the same reasons, to protect people and life she cared about. After half an hour of walking the Rakata jungle began to feel very suffocating, the heat, was making her sweat so much that she almost felt like a waterfall. Jaran had searched more information about the planet on his holopad and had found out that the Rakata Prime was home to an ancient race the Rakata. They were a humanoid species with amphibian features and were supposed to be a very technological advanced race, but all they came across was vegetation.

"Are we sure this is Rakata Prime?" Arana asked walking next to Jaran as they followed Garm who was cutting vines and branches in front of them to clear a path.

"I'm a hundred percent certain, I trust on my data." Jaran replied while scanning the area for any signs of technology. Arana brushed some sweat from her head and looked around.

"If they were so highly advanced how come we haven't found anything yet?" Arana asked somewhat puzzled why they didn't come across any signs of technology.

"Well the Rakata have been extinct from their own planet and as far as the data shows no one else has taken residue on this planet." Jaran explained before Garm silenced them both.

"We are not alone." Garm said pressing his finger against his lip as a sign to be quiet, while taking one of his blasters out of his blaster holder. Jaran put his scanner away and took his blaster from his back and Arana took her blaster out as well. The three of them and Scruffy didn't make any sound and as they listened they could hear branches snap close by. Arana tried to pinpoint the sound but it appeared to be coming from around them.

Could it be that someone was on this planet after all? Natives? The Order? Or had those Starfighter pilots found them? Arana's thoughts went back and forward trying to figure out what or who were out there. She looked at Garm who was weighing their options.

"Reveal yourself or we will open fire." Garm said out loud trying to draw whoever was hiding out, so they could see who are what they were up against. Arana was preparing herself to dodge and so was Jaran. A sudden silence fell after Garm had spoken, followed closely with a loud roar. Arana was surprised since she hadn't thought of any animals but she didn't have long to think about it when a large beast rushed through the cover of the jungle towards them. Garm had taken his second blaster out and started blasting at the creature, which seemed to have little effect on it. Just before the beast hit him Jaran had pushed him aside. They both got up to their feet quickly and watched the beast turn around for a second charge.

"What is that thing!" Arana shouted still firing on the creature.

"It looks like a Rancor, which means blasters won't work on it as it's hide is too thick." Garm replied while thinking of a solution. Arana stashed her blaster and quickly took her electrostaff out, a weapon she had used against many wild animals to keep them at bay, hopefully it worked on this rancor as well. The rancor was about to charge again when Arana stabbed it with the electrostaff, the beast cried out in anger, it sure didn't like the shock and was clearly thinking what sort of situation it had gotten into. Garm and Jaran had come up next to Arana and kept their blasters at ready, the hide might be resistant but the rancor's eyes were certainly not. Suddenly Scruffy started beeping intensely and when Arana looked she noticed a second rancor had come out of its hiding behind them. The situation had now changed drastically, since they only had one electrostaff and it was impossible to protect themselves against two of these beasts. Garm quickly reached in his pocket and took some smoke bombs out, which he threw on the ground, as they exploded a cover of smoke appeared and they ran away from the rancor before they noticed their prey had outsmarted them. They ran through the jungle away from the two predators, only to run into another, this one a lot smaller than the other two. Arana stabbed her electrostaff into the rancors belly, making it cry out loud in pain. They passed the creature and kept running away. From behind them they heard the terrifying roar of multiple rancors in the distance.

"Do you think we can shake them off?" Arana asked following Garm and Jaran who ran in front of her.

"This is their world, I don't think they appreciate any strangers and besides they are excellent predators so we have to keep running or they will catch us." Garm replied cutting some vines in front of them.

"How many are there you think? I mean large predators usually don't live in large pacts." Arana asked trying to figure out if there would be more of them around.

"Probably not, but these are not the usual Rancor I know off, so we have to stay alert." Garm pointed out, but as he did another Rancor jumped out of his hiding and dove right onto him. Garm grunted as he got knocked down by the brute force the rancor used to take down his prey. Luckily for him Arana was quick and smashed the electrostaff into the beast's eye socket, making the big creature shriek In pain. The rancor instantly lost consciousness and dropped to the ground, just before he would fall on Garm he rolled away so he wouldn't get trapped underneath the massive beast.

"That was a close call!" Jaran said helping Garm up to his feet, Garm looked at Arana and gave her a grateful look before continuing to lead the way. All around them the jungle was coming alive, the rancor's loud shriek, set a terrifying chain of rancor's hidden in the jungle to roars, making every animal or creature cry out in terror. Arana felt as if her heart stopped for a moment, paralyzed by the sounds of fear, unable to move. With big eyes she stared around her, frozen in place, when suddenly someone took her by the arm and forced her to move. Dragged along Arana started to get to her senses and heard Garm talk to her.

"Hey kiddo, pay attention we have to get out of here now! So get your legs moving!" Garm shouted as he dragged her with him. When Garm noticed Arana wasn't being dragged anymore he let her go and she ran by herself again. As they ran, she felt a chill down her spine when all the noise started to fade away around them, this only meant one thing, they were surrounded by predators. In front of them one of the bushes moved and a rancor jumped out of it, only to meet a small bomb which was thrown by Garm, who was clearly prepared. However as he threw it he had stopped moving to give it extra speed from his body movement. The bomb hit the rancor on the chest knocking it back, the charges weren't lethal for the massive beasts but they sure packed a punch. "This way!" Jaran shouted leading them into a different direction, this clearly was a move their predators didn't expect and so they roared in anger when they noticed their little plan had failed. Arana hardly had any breath remaining, they had traveled for a while and the tropical environment was draining them from their energy. Suddenly Jaran stopped and Arana bumped into him falling backward on the ground. Garm helped her up to her feet. "You ok kiddo." He asked a bit distracted. "I'm fine, nothing serious." Arana said leaning on her electrostaff, taking a few deep breaths, she wiped the sweat from her forehand and looked to see why they had stopped. A colossal rancor stood in front of them, probably twice the size of the ones they had encountered.

"Sweet mother of…" Garm cursed when he saw the beast. They wanted to turn around but the other rancor had caught up with them. This time they were surrounded so escaping was no option.

"What do we do now?" Arana asked holding her electro staff with two hands, pointed at the rancor at the back. Garm opened his coat and drew both his blasters and held them up.

"Now we try to give them hell, or die trying" He said followed by a deep breath. Jaran had drawn his blaster as well and was aiming at the big rancor's eyes and even Scruffy had drawn his little shocker stick, ready to protect them. The monstrous beast roared, making the other rancor back away. Arana looked over her shoulder and watched the colossal giant pick up speed, it's claws alone were like build in spears and his teeth like razor sharp blades. How could they face off against such an enormous creature, their blasters couldn't harm it and the electrostaff hardly had any effect on the smaller ones, so what good would it do on one twice the size. Suddenly Arana was drawn to her lightsaber and before she knew it she stood in front of Jaran and she felt her face covered with something warm and liquid. When she realized what had happened the giant rancor was shrieking in pain, Arana had sliced one of its hands clean off. The rancor screeched in agony and roared at Arana and the others. Jaran was stunned by the moment but quickly snapped out of it when Garm opened fire on some of the surrounding rancor's.

"Take them by surprise!" Garm shouted firing his blasters on the creatures. Jaran followed his example and started firing. The rancor roared, some in anger but most in confusion, since they had no idea what just happened. The giant, now one handed rancor, roared at his smaller kind and they started to attack. Some of them had fled when they noticed that the giant rancor had cried out in pain and when Garm shot one in his eye socket, killing it on the spot. Their numbers were still significant and Arana and the others were still outnumbered by a lot, but they weren't going to lose, not today. Arana noticed one of the smaller rancor charging in on her and with a swipe from below she sliced the beasts guts and head in two. She then stabbed one of the other rancor who had leaped at Jaran with her electrostaff, giving it a big shock, stunning it long enough to cut its arm off and sending the creature running back into the jungle. Garm had used some more bombs and had managed to blow a hole into one of the charging rancor while evading one that tried to attack his flank. Once the rancor noticed that the lightsaber was lethal they slowly backed off, until only a few remained. Arana had never felt so powerful before, was this the power the Jedi had for all those years? She thought, losing her focus for a moment. This was enough for the colossal rancor to leap at her, when he struck the ground the three of them lost their balance for a second and just in time Arana managed to raise her electrostaff to block the beasts slash from his remaining claw, the sheer force of the slash made her drop the electrostaff several meters away. When the creature slashed again Arana dodged it and rolled to the creatures clawless side and stabbed it with her lightsaber. The massive beast grunted and with a vile look it glared down on Arana, who had felt powerful a moment ago, but now started to feel a little fear. As Arana pulled the lightsaber back the rancor turned around smashing its tail into Arana making her fly for a couple of meters falling on her belly. When Arana turned around she saw the massive hand come down and rolled away, barely avoiding the rancor claw that smashed into the ground where she lay second ago. Scruffy had come to help her and sprayed an electric spark at the beast face, distracting it for a second, just long enough for Arana to get back to her feet. Arana looked at Garm and Jaran who were fighting only a few rancor now, she noticed Jaran had found her electrostaff and used it against the predators to keep them at bay. The big rancor roared at her in anger and Arana screamed back at it. "I'm not afraid of you, you ugly beast!" She raising her lightsaber with two hands in front of her and took a stance, ready to meet her opponent. The massive beast roared and charged at her, Arana took a deep breath and just as the creature slashed she dodged towards the rancor and put her lightsaber into the beast's belly. The rancor enraged and smashed the ground with such a force that it cracked and before she knew a loud rumbling started and the ground crumble beneath them. Just a moment before it cracked, she caught a last glimpse of Garm who watched her disappear into the ground. The last thing Arana saw was a darkness that swallowed her down, together with the giant rancor which she was still attached to with her lightsaber.


	3. Chapter 2 - Savanna Squadron

**Chapter 2 - Savanna Squadron**

"United alliance this is Savanna squadron reporting in, we have discovered an unidentified ship in the Western Reaches, I ask permission to identify the ship." A male Cathar reported over the comlink in his helmet to his superior. The Cathar, Rysorr Si, waited for his superior to give him permission to check out the unidentified ship, he and his squadron flew in their x-wing Starfighters patrolling the Western Reaches. Rysorr was the leader of Savanna squad, which included two females from his own race, Nomyri Ja and Cylyxi Nhul, a Mirialan girl named Fokii and a Human teenager Jokin Antran. The rebels had discovered Rysorr when he attempted to free Nomyri and Cylyxi from a slaver and was caught by the slave masters henchmen. The rebels had helped them escape and offered to help them back to their planet but on their way to Cathar they were attacked by the Order and the three of them had offered to help fighting. Ever since they had stated with the rebels, fighting off slavery and stopping the order. After a few years they had proved to be worthy adversaries and were offered to pilot the x-wing Starfighters. At first they were just the three of them and so together they formed the Savanna squadron, but later they were introduced to some new members as new protocol wanted five x-wings in a squadron, due to their new enemy. Over time they had met and lost many x-wing pilots during fights until Fokii and Jokin joined them, who both were extraordinary pilots despite their age.

"Savanna squadron, this is Commander Kara Rieekan speaking, you have my permission to identify the ship, report back to me once you know more, over and out." The commander replied. Rysorr flipped a switch to activate the ships fighting mode, the x-wing Starfighter opened its wings and was ready to go.

"Alright Savanna squadron we are to engage the target, prepare your weapons and stay in formation." Rysorr ordered to his squadron. The others came in position and Rysorr looked at his left and right to see Nomyri and Cylyxi close his flanks, he checked his radar and both Fokii and Jokin closed their back and together they flew towards the unidentified ship. As they drew closer Rysorr noticed the ships model was an old one, a VCX – 820 escort freighter, at least that was what their scanners picked up.

"Savanna one, the unidentified ship appears to be a VCX – 820 escort freighter, these type of ships were most commonly used by smugglers in the old days" Nomyri reported to their wing leader.

"Wait aren't those VCX like ancient or something?" Jokin asked laughing since he couldn't imagine anyone flying such piece of scrap.

"There are very few of them still operational and in most cases they are used to smuggle weapons or slaves across the galaxy." Nomyri added trying to state all the information she knew about these kind of ships. As they drew closer Jokin kept going on and on about how that ship belonged at a junkyard and that a good smuggler would use a faster and better ship.

"Savanna four please shut your mouth, we are on a mission." Rysorr cut in, since Jokin,

"Sorry, Savanna one, I got carried away, Savanna four out." Jokin replied stopping his rambling. No matter how good Jokin was, he always kept going on about a subject too far. Rysorr usually let him ramble for a while especially if the mission wasn't too serious like this. It shouldn't cause them any trouble, especially if it were smugglers they wouldn't dare to attack five x-wings Starfighters since that would mean a fight they were bound to lose. But for some reason Rysorr felt that this VCX -820 was a different story and he took a deep breath to stay focused. They were almost within the standard communication range, Rysorr was planning to call the ship and ask for their ID and cargo information. If refused or they transported anything illegal they would have to come with them or they would have to use force.

"Savanna two here, my scanner picks up unusual weaponry, it seems that this VCX is modified with non-standard weapons, I suggest we stay cautious as we approach them for contact." Cylyxi reported in, warning her team.

"Roger that Savanna two" Rysorr said to confirm that he received the information. As they got within range he checked his readings quickly to see if any weapons were being activated but they didn't, so he tried to call them on.

"VCX - 820, service number one, five, six, nine, seven, zero, this is Savanna squadron from the New Alliance speaking, we would like to receive your data and would like to scan your ship, be warned if you decline or refuse to cooperate you are forced to come with us and if you use force, know that we are armed and ready to use offensive measures." Rysorr explained to the VCX-820, just as protocol would want them to. His squadron stayed in position keeping a safe distance in case the VCX would refuse their request but in all surprise a comlink was opened up to them.

"Greetings Savanna, we heard your request and are preparing a data transfer, you should receive it in a moment." A young female voice replied.

"VCX- 820, how about that scan, do we have permission to scan your ship while we wait for your data?" Rysorr asked trying to find out if this ship was worth their time.

"You are free to scan our ship, we have nothing to hide." The young female replied. With those words Savanna squadron came within scanning range. They received the data as promised so Rysorr gave the order for Nomyri and Cylyxi to scan the ship. Fokii and Jokin flew from their position next to Rysorr to keep their formation, while the other two were busy scanning the ship.

"Well that was easy." Jokin said to the others while they waited.

"Stay alert we aren't done yet." Fokii replied while reading through the VCX ships data. Fokii didn't find anything in particular until she noticed that the weapons on their readings didn't match the data.

"Savanna five here, there is something wrong with the data, the data shows weapons which are different from what our scanners picked up." Fokii reported to her team.

"VCX - 820 we received your data but we discovered that you use other weapons than what is stated in your ships data, care to explain?" Rysorr asked trying to figure out what the idea behind it was, it wasn't uncommon that weapons were replaced and not updated on the data list but just to make sure they weren't up to anything illegal.

"Oh I'm so sorry we recently had some repairs to our ship, we replaced the weapons since they were cheaper, but because we had a delivery to make we left in a hurry and forgot to update our data. The weapons share the same function like the ones in the data, they are just from a different brand." The young female replied explaining their choice. Rysorr thought for a moment, it was exactly as he predicted, they had simply changed the weapons and forgot to update the data, at least that was what they wanted them to believe, it was strange that such a young girl answered them and not their captain. He felt it in his guts that something was wrong with this ship.

"Savanna Two, Savanna three, what is the status of that scan." Rysorr asked trying to find a clue why his gut was keeping him so wary of this ship.

"Savanna two here, I finished scanning my side, I didn't detect much in the cargo hold and it appears they only have four life forms on board, two on the bridge and two in the main hold." Cylyxi reported.

"Savanna Five again sorry to interrupt but I discovered this ship is named the Scrounger, which once I inserted it in our database appears to be wanted for grave robbing." Fokii informed sending the data to Rysorr. He quickly read into the information and with a shock he looked up.

"Everyone in defensive position,, Savanna two, three fall back immediately!" Rysorr ordered to his squadron.

"Wait didn't you say they had four life forms? I detect a fifth, wait a sixth, of no!" Nomyri said before pulling hard to the side just in time to avoid the Scroungers laser cannons.

"Defensive positions! Return fire where needed." Rysorr ordered while shooting his x-wing lasers at the Scrounger. They had tried to trick them and for some reason they had managed to figure out that their illusion had failed before Savanna squadron could take measures, whoever was flying that ship, he sure damn well knew what he was doing. When Savanna two and three safely escaped the sudden attack they came back in formation with the others and now it was time for them to push their attack.

"Attack formation, focus fire on the Laser cannons." Rysorr said leading the way.

"Now this is more like it!" Jokin shouted over their comlinks as he was ready for some action. They all fired their lasers at the Scroungers side cannons but with no results.

"They have some sort of protective shield around their ship, our lasers won't do any damage unless we take out their shield generator." Fokii reported to her squad.

"Damn those grave robbers, they are more resourceful than I thought!" Rysorr growled in anger.

"Evasive formation and get me a soft spot as soon as possible." He added while evading some of the incoming laser fire. Rysorr sure didn't expect to encounter a wanted ship on their patrol and taking it in would serve more of a challenge than he had hoped in the beginning when they thought it they were just mere smugglers.

"Savanna One I found their shield generator, it should be right above their right engine." Fokii informed after having studied the Scroungers data, even if the data was falsified moving a shield generator would seem illogical as the engine room couldn't be in a different place. Savanna squadron prepared for a new attack, this time with the right engine as target.

"Prepare your missiles, fire at my signal." Rysorr said waiting for the others to line up in formation.

"Savanna Two, ready." Cylyxi reported closely followed by Nomyri and Fokii.

"Savanna Four ready to blast!" Jokin reported last, a bit too eager to fire his missiles.

"3..2..1..Fire!: Rysorr ordered and the missiles flew to their target. The missiles flew with incredible speed and the two gunners were firing at them to stop them. They managed to hit one and another one, but the first missile reached the shield and blew itself up on impact, the last two missiles hit the shield as well creating a hole, which was about to close again but Savanna squadron had fired an extra pair of missiles and while the gunners took some out again two missiles hit the right engine.

"Two missiles got a direct hit, the shield is going down, I repeat the shield is going down." Fokii reported.

"Alright now let's get those cannons." Rysorr said ready to give the order when suddenly his x-wings power started to flicker. Rysorr switched some buttons and tried to figure out what was wrong when he noticed that his controls weren't working anymore.

"This is Savanna one I seem to be having technical difficulties, Savanna two you take over command and take those cannons out." Rysorr started before Cylyxi interrupted him.

"Savanna two here, negative, I lost control over my x-wing, maybe the others can take over."

"Savanna Five here, it seems like they have infected our systems with that data they send about their ship, we are all out of the routine, Five out." Fokii reported back and almost immediately she heard Rysorr roar in anger and slamming onto his control panel. Savanna squadron had been taken out and all they could do was watch the Scrounger jump into hyperspace, away from them. They had some impressive technical engineer if he was able to shut down five ships at once with just some data. However they might have gotten away, but that jump to hyperspace would certainly put a lot of pressure on their ship with only one working engine, they sure would have a hard time if they jumped out of hyperspace, if they didn't collapse during the jump that was.

It had taken a couple of hours for before a cruiser was able to pick the Savanna Squadron from space and when they were finally there Rysorr had been summoned to the commander to explain how this happened. Meanwhile the remaining members of the Savanna squad were free to roam around.

Each were given a cabin so they could rest until their ships were fixed again, however this proved to be more difficult as the virus was active and spreading to any technology that docked into the system. They discovered this when two droids shut down once they had docked into the system, only by hand were the mechanics allowed to fix the ships. They had to take out the whole system and install a new one, as well as preserve the virus infected machines for further investigation. If this was a new form of weapon they had to figure out how it worked and how they could use it or protect themselves from it. Fokii entered Jokin's cabin and kicked against his bed to wake him up. Jokin yawned and crawled out of the bed, stretched and yawned again.

"Any news from the big guy?" He asked curious while finishing his stretch.

"No word yet, but Nomyri and Cylyxi are going to grab a bite and asked if we wanted to join them" Fokii explained walking back to the door.

"Sounds like a plan, I couldn't really sleep anyway, I keep thinking about how that ship might have had some super secret weapon on it and got away with it." Jokin said frustrated when he thought back about it.

"Well just leave it to Rysorr, I'm sure he is busy coming up with a plan with the commander to pin point their ship." Fokii replied gesturing him to get moving. Once they reached one of the cafeteria on the ship they were served the same old plain space food like always when in space, disgusting drinking boxes Jokin used to call them. As they placed their order a droid served it to them.

"Enjoy your meal." The droid beeped at them, although Jokin knew he wasn't going to enjoy this one bit. Shortly after they received their order they founds the remaining two members of Savanna squad sitting in a corner. Fokii and Jokin moved towards their friends when they picked up some other soldiers conversation.

"Did you hear about that Savanna squadron?" One of the soldiers said.

"No what about them?" the other soldier asked curious.

"I heard they screwed up a simple patrol mission, they break all of their ships and had to call for a pick up!" The first soldier said laughing.

"No way, how did they even manage to do that?" The second soldier asked surprised.

"I don't know, but I heard half of them are Cathar, proves that they aren't any good, maybe we should send them back to the slavers." The first soldier boasted laughing out loud. Jokin got extremely angry at this and wanted to teach them a lesson but Fokii stopped him.

"They are not worth a fight." Fokii said looking Jokin in the eyes. Jokin sighed, still angry but he knew she was probably right so he left it and joined his friend in the corner.

"Hey you two sure took your time." Nomyri said smiling, happy to see her friends.

"Yhea I had to drag him out of his bed." Fokii said joking, poking Jokin in his side. They all laughed, but Jokin made a fake smile as he kept thinking about what those soldiers were saying. He knew his team was the best there possibly was and if it wasn't for that stupid ship they wouldn't have had any issues at all. The New Alliance had people both from the Rebellion and the Order but apart from fighting against this new threat they kept having small conflicts among each other. The four of them talked about what their next mission could be, Cylyxi offered to get them something to drink, since it tasted better than the food so she went to the cafeteria to get a tray of drinks. On her way back Jokin watched it all happen, one of the soldiers tripped her on purpose and made her spill the drinks over the floor and than claimed she spilled it over his boots.

"You are going to pay for this!" The soldier said with an angry voice.

"I'm sorry I tripped over something." Cylyxi said apologizing. As she picked up the mugs from the floor.

"Why don't you come by my cabin later to pay your depth like your species did as the slaves they were." The soldier said laughing before he got knocked off his feet into some tables where some other soldiers were eating. Jokin had unleashed his anger and was punishing the soldier with his fists.

"You take that back and apologies to my friend, you piece of scum!" Jokin shouted trying to land another punch in his face. Unfortunately the other soldier had taken hold of him and dragged him back so his friend could get up. The other soldiers at that table were angry because of their spilled food and as they helped the other soldier up to his feet he found the chance to punch Jokin in his stomach as a little payback. Fokii and Nomyri had come to help but a load roar stopped them all.

"Enough, there will be no fighting among ourselves, if you want to fight so badly leave that for the true enemy out there." Rysorr said with a powerful voice. The whole cafeteria looked at them and as he drew closer the two soldiers whose food had been knocked over left, leaving the two who started the fight on their own.

"Who do you think you are fuzzball, your member over there owns me a new pair of boots and this dog of yours needs to be put on a leash." The soldier said cocky, which was the last thing he said before Rysorr gave him a punch in the face followed by a head butt knocking him unconscious. The soldier who was holding Jokin let him go and raised his hands as a sign that he didn't want to fight.

"Squadron time to go." Rysorr said with a strict voice as he stepped over the unconscious soldier and left for the door. His team followed him and the last thing Jokin saw was that the second soldier was trying to wake his friend up before they walked out of the cafeteria towards their new mission.


	4. Chapter 3 - Unwelcome Guest

**Chapter 3 - Unwelcome guest**

Arana regained consciousness, "ugh" a painful grunt escaped her mouth.

 _What happened? Where am I?_ Were the first thoughts that crossed her mind. She felt as if she was hit by a star cruiser. Slowly she tried to open her eyes but she couldn't see, everything was dark and cold. Carefully she pushed herself to her side, her whole body was aching, she rolled on her back and tried to breath for a moment, it hurt. Arana took a deep breath and forced herself to sit up right, which she managed to do after a lot of grunting because of the pain. She felt her stomach which seemed to be alright, next she reached for her chest, her throat and eventually moved to her face. She carefully touched her chin, her cheeks, her nose and eventually her eyes, she brought her other hand to her face as well and touched it, she could feel her eyes and she knew she blinked, so why wasn't she able to see anything. Did she go blind? Was what went through Arana's mind for a moment, but she didn't believe so or she would remember. Did she? Carefully Arana looked around trying to see anything but she couldn't so she thought of something else.

 _Alright lets see if I can stand up._ Arana thought to herself. She bend over and pushed herself up with her arms, with a lot of strength she managed to stand up but when she tried to walk the ground she stood on collapsed and she fell forwards and rolled over the edge. Arana wanted to scream but she didn't have the chance because she hit the ground almost face first. Arana cried out loud, it hurt a lot and luckily she landed on her shoulder first or she might had broken her neck. Tired and in pain Arana tried to get up one final time, with tears in her eyes she moved her arm in front of her so she could push herself up when suddenly her hand brushed against something smooth. Her heart skipped for a moment but she somehow recognized the smooth object, carefully she reached for it with her hand and when her hand was entirely on it she grabbed hold of it. A small burst of hope warmed her heart when she realized she had found her lightsaber, she smiled and cried a little at the same time, feeling relieved she had found something she knew belonged to her. With the lightsaber Arana found the strength to crawl up on her knees and arm, once she managed she sat back on her knees and pushed the lightsaber against her chest. She shivered for a moment. Would she dare activate her lightsaber to find out if she had become blind or not. Arana took a few deep breaths and breathed out for a couple of times before she slid her finger to the lightsaber switch. Her fingers were on the switch and with a last breath she flipped it on. In front of her eyes the green light was a sight to never forget, the lightsaber lit up a small part of the area and Arana shed tears of joy, knowing she hadn't gone blind. Arana moved the lightsaber down so she could see her body, no serious injuries which she could see, so apart from her entire body feeling bruised she was alright. Arana tried to turn around but her body hurt too much when she tried, so she was forced to stand up and look around for clues about what had happened to her. A bit shaky she managed to get on on foot and slowly she pushed herself to stand up, almost falling over a few times but in the end she stood on her feet, shaking like a string of grass in the wind, but she stood on her feet! Arana looked in the distance but it was pitch black, slowly with small steps she turned around to look where she had fallen down from and noticed a weird looking rock. As she drew closer she noticed it was no rock but a creature as she saw scales, Arana carefully walked around and noticed its head and suddenly she remembered the rancor attacks, she focused hard looked up. She had been fighting with this rancor, when suddenly the ground collapsed under their feet, taking them both down. Arana thought about Garm and Jaran who were still fighting when she fell and wondered if they were alright. She had a comlink so she could contact the others to let them know she was alright, the only problem was that she kind of lost her comlink. With a deep sigh Arana searched around the area where she and the rancor had fallen but with no results. If she was underground there might also be a way up, however if she ended up walking in the wrong direction she might get lost forever. Arana found a rock and sat down for a moment to think what her next move would be. She didn't have a lot of ideas but she figured that finding some sort of cave edge would be her first step, since walking around with nothing around you felt terrifying. When Arana had found the cave wall she followed it until she reached the smooth wall of a building, stunned for a moment she looked at the wall and around to see if there was any sign of life, she even called out but once she received no response she figured it was time to move on. With her lightsaber she carved an A with a V through it into the wall followed with an arrow pointing into the direction she went, this way she could remember where she came from and if Garm or any of the Scrounger crew members came across it they knew she was here and what direction she went. Slowly Arana moved along the wall, which seemed to be never ending, until she came across what seemed to be a door. After a closer look she noticed a control panel, which made her wonder if the Rakata actually lived underground, it sure would make more sense why they didn't come across any technology. The control panel, how advanced it might have been in their old days, now seemed rather outdated, however the door still faced to be a challenge. Apart from an ancient language on the control pads, Arana still had the problem of having no power to even try the controls, leaving her with not much of a choice than to use her lightsaber to cut the door open. Carefully Arana pushed the lightsaber against the door and slowly it sank into the doors, melting right through the material creating a hole into it. It took a very long time to cut the door and once it was cut she had to pry it open wide enough for her to pass through it. Tired in body and spirit Arana forced herself to give it her everything to open the door, which was no easy feat as it could be compared to pushing a giant bolder up a hill. In the end Arana had decided to cut the door and made a hole large enough for her to pass through, once she was on the other side she took a moment to rest. When she had regained some of her strength Arana continued her way further inside. There was no sign of caving left once she had gone through the door, everything was build in the ancient Rakata style, at least she thought it was a Rakata style, she had never actually seen or heard from the Rakata Prime let stand knew the Rakata existed. As she moved through a long hall way her foot stepped on something which she felt disappear into the ground. Arana's heart beat in her throat for a moment when she realized she triggered something she probably shouldn't have. It was a total surprise for her when suddenly everything got lit up and she was able to see without the light of her lightsaber. While being amazed by the fact there was still some form of power after thousands of years, her amazement was for a short while when she heard engine's power up followed by a defense mechanism that activated by itself. Small turrets appeared out of the ceiling and locked their little barrels on her and before she knew they fired at her like a small army. Just in time Arana managed to dodge behind some weird looking statue, probably something that resembled a Rakata or at least was resembling before the turrets blasted it to pieces. They fired pretty fast for ancient old weaponry, whoever made these sure knew how to build his things. Arana tried to look around the statue but almost got hit by a laser, she was stuck behind this statue and the bad part was the statue was decreasing in size so fast that she didn't have much time to think about her next step. As the edges grew closer and the lasers almost hit her, Arana did something she never expected herself to do. She rolled away from the statue to the center of the hall way and started to reflect the lasers with her lightsaber. In stories she heard that Jedi used this trick but in reality it was a lot harder. Some of the lasers cut the edge of her skin but she managed to evade and reflect the lethal ones, which was all that mattered in order to survive. Turret after turrets she managed to take down, slow and steady were the key of coming through it alive. Once she passed the lasers a line of small droids awaited her.

 _Oh you got to be kidding me!_ Arana thought to herself but she knew there was no turning back now, she had to push forward and find what was at the end of it all. After beating all the droids Arana sat down against one of the statues, resting her aching body and her drained mind. A new door was at the end of all the fighting and she wasn't sure if she was ready to face what lay behind it. Suddenly she heard the sound of something heading her way echo through the hallway. Arana crawled behind the statue to hide from sight. She couldn't possible fight much longer she needed more time to recover but now something came from the way she had come.

 _Was this a trap? Have I been too reckless by trying to move forward that I forgot my only escape route?_ Arana thought breathing heavily, waiting for the moment she would get discovered. The sound grew louder and she knew there was no other way than to face it on her terms. As long as possible Arana waited and when she felt like she would be discovered any second she used all her strength to get up to her feet and attack right away.

"Raarghhhh" Arana shouted coming out of her hiding running up to the thing that was several feet away. With her lightsaber raised above her head with both hands she leaped forward ready to strike, when she heard a familiar panic beeps she broke off her attack just in time before slicing through her target.

 _Scruffy!_ Arana thought when her Sith probe droid had found her! She sighed with relief she didn't cut her little friend in two. Scruffy still a little startled from the encounter beeped that he was happy to see her alive. Arana deactivated the lightsaber for the first time since she activated it and hugged her little friend.

"What are you doing here!" Arana asked confused after releasing Scruffy from a long hug.

"How did you find me?" Arana asked curious. Scruffy beeped and biped to her explaining how he got here.

"Oh so Garm send you to look for me and you found my marks on the walls and followed the trail." Arana said summing it all up. With some confirming beeps Scruffy confirmed.

"So what about Garm and Jaran? Are they coming as well?" Arana asked hopeful. Scruffy beeped very slow, meaning they weren't with him.

"But if they are not here? Where are they? Are they still fighting the Rancor's? Are they alright." Arana asked having so many questions. Scruffy flew up and projected a hologram on the floor. Arana sat down and watched a message left by Garm.

"Arana I know you are still alive, you are the thoroughest kid I know, well young woman that is actually, anyway I send Scruffy to find you and stay with you in case you needed help.." Garm said while shooting in the distance. "Scruffy tell her we are heading back to the Scrounger and will come looking for her once we have the right equipment to come down and have proper tools to deal with these damned rancor!" Garm said blasting one of the rancor through his eye socked after it was stunned by Jaran with the electrostaff. "Now go find her!" was the last thing Garm said before he tossed Scruffy down the hole and ran away with Jaran who was shouting they had to leave. After the message he beeped and played her a voice message.

"Well done Scruffy, that mark was left by Arana, a sign that she is as resourceful as ever. Jaran has been bitten by something and is unable to walk on his own, I'm helping him move but those damn rancor are starting to catch up. We are almost at the Scrounger as I can hear gunfire from our cannons, Guess we crashed on the wrong planet after all, damned jungle! Report back to me when you found Arana we will try to reach the Scrounger and will let you know once we are heading your way, Garm out." The message said hat they would report back but they hadn't so Arana assumed they weren't able to get away yet, but they almost made it back to the Scrounger with their last message so Arana was certain they did make it back. All she had to do now was send them a message that she was ok and they could sort out later how to get back to them. After Arana recorded a message she asked Scruffy to send it to Garm and the others, Scruffy popped his little antenna and tried to send it. Suddenly scruffy beeped in confusion.

"What is it? Did you send the message?" Arana asked trying to figure out what Scruffy was saying, who replied with his usual beeping.

"Wait what you can't connect to their data?" She asked shocked looking at Scruffy and than around her. They were inside this facility filled with traps, so the chances were any form of communication was blocked off. Arana put an arm against her belly and leaned her elbow in her hand while putting the knuckles from her other hand against her head in an attempt to calm down and come up with a plan. Softly her knuckle tabbed against her forehead while she was thinking. They could go all the way back into the cave but that would cost a lot of time, if she could disable the communication block they wouldn't need to go all the way back. The only problem was that if she didn't want to move back she had to move forward, which meant opening the door. Arana put her hands in her side and sighed before getting up to her feet.

"Alright I'm going to open that door, stay with me Scruffy because I have no idea what will be waiting for us on the other side." Arana said moving in front of the door. Scruffy floated next to her and gave a single beep. With a last deep breath Arana started to push the door open, slowly it slid open until it was wide enough for her and Scruffy to enter. They entered a room filled with technology from decades ago, parts of droids, weapons and what not were hanging and laying around on tables, floors and walls. In awe Arana looked around the massive room, her lightsaber at the ready in case of new attacks.

"Can you record this Scruffy? I'm sure Garm and the others would be interested to see this." Arana said while brushing over the table leaving a trail in the dust. They looked around until they reached the other side where another door was located, only this door was already half open. With squinting eyes Arana studied it but she noticed there was dust on the floor and if someone had entered it would have left a trail, so she felt somewhat more at ease knowing that. Carefully she peeked around the corner, the light were off in this room making it very ominous. She activated her lightsaber and stepped inside with Scruffy right behind her.

"Can you light up so we can have a better look at the room? Arana asked Scruffy, who turned his lights on, shining into the distance revealing some kind of research lab.

"Scruffy can you turn on the rooms lighting?" Arana asked her droid while walking to some of the tables. With a beep Scruffy went on his way looking for a way to turn on the lights, while he was looking Arana used her lightsaber to light up the table. A lot of papers had been burned or damaged over time, as she tried to pick some pages up they crumbled in her hands. When she tried to pick up a book it turned into dust and she had to shield her mouth and eyes for a moment. With a few coughs due to the dust she walked backwards bumping into a locker. As she bumped into it the door fell out of the base, Arana dodged it and with a loud noise it came down on the floor sending even more dust flying. After the dust had cleared up she looked at the locker, which turned out to be some kind of secret door. As she as peering into the darkness of the lockers passage she could hear a surge of power and the lights turned on.

 _Great Scruffy managed to turn the power on._ Arana thought smiling, glad to have her friend with her. Now that she was finally able to see more she was ready to explore that locker. As Scruffy returned Arana beckoned him to follow her as she went through the locker. When Scruffy had turned the lights on, a room in the distance had been powered up at the end of the long dark passage on the other side of the locker. With her lightsaber up, shielding her if she needed to defend herself Arana walked through the narrow passage. When she stepped through the final bit into the room where the light came from she was almost blinded. The light, extremely bright, reflected through the room like sunlight on water. As her eyes adjusted to the bright light she noticed the room was as white as snow, so smooth and clean like time hadn't touched it at all. Amazed by the view Arana followed a path lit by beams of light of pure white, it made her feel at ease and in a certain way soothed her aching body and tired mind. What ever this was it was something she had never seen or heard of before. The path lead her to a spheric chamber with a giant pillar in the center of it. As she approached the pillar she noticed someone was sitting against it. Her heart was starting to beat faster and with her lightsaber drawn she moved towards whoever sat there, until she noticed it were only the remains of that person. Arana turned her lightsaber off and looked at the corpse.

 _From all the places this certainly was a peaceful place to pass to the next life._ Arana thought looking around the spheric room until she stopped at the pillar. She walked around studying the strange pillar until she got to the copse again. The pillar had a strange triangular hole on this side, Arana brushed a finger around the hole and figured it was some fort of lock. She looked at the corpse again studying it more closely until she noticed his hands were closed together.

"Hmm, what are you holding?" Arana asked reaching for his hands to find out. As she opened the hands a white crystal like pyramid was in his hands. She took it out of his hands and studied it.

 _Could this be the key that fits into that pillar?_ Arana thought looking at the pillar again.

 _He clearly was trying to hide this for some reason but why hide the key near the lock?_ Her thoughts were puzzled at the illogical choice to hide so close to the lock

"Unless? You tried to unlock it with the key and it didn't work!" Arana mumbled to herself.

"But what good is a key if the lock doesn't open once you use it?" She added trying to figure it out.

 _What is it you tried to unlock?_ Arana thought looking at the key in her hand and the lock it was suppose to go into. Slowly she walked forwards with the key in her hand aiming for the lock, Arana heard Scruffy beeping in the background but she had to know what would happen if she opened the lock. Closer and closer her hand came when suddenly like a magnet the key was drawn into the lock by its own. "Wait what?" Arana said surprised by the unexpected moment. The moment the key entered the lock electricity came from the walls and were sucked into the top of the pillar, Arana did a few steps back not sure if this was what she wanted, Scruffy beeped in fear and tried to fly away but was struck by a bolt of lightning and crashed into the floor.

"No Scruffy!" Arana shouted reaching for her friend but another bolt of lightning shot down and without thinking she activated her lightsaber, which absorbed the lightning. Arana's heart was pounding faster and she thought to herself what she had done but as soon as it all began it ended just as fast. The lightning had stopped so did all the lights as well, with only her lightsaber Arana carefully moved to Scruffy, who, luckily rebooted himself. Relieved he hadn't suffered any serious damage, she couldn't help but think what she had activated.

 _Was it possibly a key to shut down all power in the facility?_ Arana thought but when she noticed the key was still glowing she wondered if all the energy had been absorbed into it. Before she could find out the pillar lit up almost instantly like a massive beam of light, followed with a blinding flash lighting the entire room. When Arana opened her eyes again all the power had turned on again and the pillar started make a strange sound. With her lightsaber drawn she watched the pillar open up and once it had opened up she saw.. _A Human? No it looked mechanical, a humanoid droid?_ Arana wasn't sure what it was, it looked like a human but it was actually a droid hanging in a beam of light. Suddenly the mechanical eyes activated and it stepped out of the levitating beam onto the ground. This droid was all white and golden with dark wiring like veins running through his design, his face was hidden behind a smooth mask only with holes to reveal his orange eyes. The droid looked at his hands and moved them, only when Scruffy beeped when he had fully rebooted did the droid look in their way. What happened after went so fast that Arana had barely any time to get her lightsaber up before the droid would have decapitated her. Arana pushed him back and jumped backwards, taking her lightsaber with both hands, holding it up to protect her. This droid had drawn a white lightsaber which was hanging on his side. Arana notice he had another one hanging on his other side and he clearly knew how to use them. She took a deep breath and watched the droid study her before he put deactivated his lightsaber and started to walk towards her.

"I'm sorry master, I didn't mean to attack you, my systems feel a little unstable after being awakened from my sleep." The droid said taking his other lightsaber and kneeling in front of Arana to present his weapons to her. Speechless and confused Arana had no idea what to do but she knew this droid could be extremely dangerous if he would attack her again.

"I will have to take your lightsabers for the time being, until you have recovered your more stable." Arana said carefully reaching for the two lightsabers.

"An excellent choice, as to be expected from a Jedi master." The droid said still kneeling down in front of her. Arana put the lightsabers in her pocket belt and took a step back again. After a while she figured he was waiting for her orders.

"You may rise, uhm.." Arana hesitated since she didn't know his name, but the droid stood up and put his hands on his back.

"My name is Harukea, I was created by a man who told me I was their last connection with the force and that if I wanted to learn more about the world I had to seek out a Jedi master if I was to be awakened." Harukea said introducing himself and explaining his reasons. Arana felt a bit dizzy from all the events that had happened in such a short time, that she lost her balance for a moment. Harukea was fast and held her up by supporting her arm.

"Are you alright master, you don't look so well and I hardly sense any force from within you." Harukea asked releasing her when she had found her balance again. A little scared of what this droid could do, Arana decided to play along, at least for now until she was reunited with Garm and the others.

"Yes, sorry it has been a crazy day, we have been attacked all day long and I'm just exhausted, thats all." Arana replied thinking about what to do next.

 _What if this droid found out she wasn't a master? Heck! Not even a Jedi at all! Would he attack her knowing that she was exhausted?_ Arana thought to herself.

"Are these attackers still around?" Harukea asked curious.

"Uhm I don't think so, some maybe but I think the others are dealing with them right now." Arana explained trying not to give a lot of personal information.

"I see, sorry master but I have one more question if you would be so kind?" Harukea asked politely.

"What do you want to know?" Arana asked afraid he finally figured out she wasn't a Jedi.

"I would like to know your name, so that I can properly address you, my master." Harukea asked waiting for her response. Arana didn't know why but without hesitation she told him her name.

"My name is Arana, Arana Vakrii." Her heart was beating a little faster as she waited for his response.

"Arana Vakrii, I am pleased to meet you, now let us reunite you with your allies." Harukea said while walking passed her towards the way out.

"Allow me to lead the way, I will make sure you will soon be among your allies, Master Vakrii" Harukea said and before Arana knew it, she was following him without questioning, mainly because the only thing that was on her mind now were the following words.

 _Master Vakrii._


End file.
